Gilead Antiviral Drug Shows the Most Potential for COVID-19, Say

says WHO official

 

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) received a vote of confidence from the World Health Organization on Monday when a WHO official said that its experimental COVID-1) drug shows great potential.

Bruce Aylward, assistant director-general of the World Health Organization, went on to say during a Beijing briefing that remdesivir seems to be the "one drug right now that we think may have efficacy." Shares of Gilead shot up by as much as 6.9% following the briefing.

Remdesivir was originally developed to be an Ebola vaccine, but it proved less effective than was hoped against that disease. However, back in January, one COVID-19 patient who received remdesivir on a compassionate use basis saw a substantial improvement in symptoms. Since then, the Chinese government has started human trials with remdesivir, with WHO stating that clinical results would be available within weeks.

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